A Lenovo Shop In Beijing
A customer (L) checks a new laptop with a salesman at a Lenovo shop in Beijing December 13, 2010. Reuters/Christina Hu

The Yoga 3 Pro is beautifully crafted and has a breakthrough design as compared to its predecessors. It is evident that the company has worked better than ever before to achieve the new form factor. Obviously, Lenovo has prepared the new device to offer stiff competition with Apple, Microsoft and the other strong brands in the market. In this case, Lenovo's Yoga 3 Pro will be in close comparison with its rivals: the MacBook Air of Apple and Microsoft's Surface Pro 3.

Design, Screen and Features

Being part of the Yoga line of hybrid laptops which has started the new trend in mobile PC design, the Pro 3 kept the clamshell concept with two 360-degree fold-back hinges. Basically, it works as a tablet which can also be used as a laptop when attached to its portable keyboard.

Based on Yahoo Tech, the Yoga 3 Pro is the thinnest Yoga to date with its 12.8mm thick body compared to MacBook Air which is an inch wider and a strand thicker. Both laptops have almost the same weight, with the Yoga 3 Pro weighing 2.6 pounds while the Air at 2.9 pounds. However, the Surface Pro 3 happens to be the lightest weighing 1.8 pounds without the keyboard and at 2.4 pounds with the keyboard attached.

The latest Yoga comes in bright orange, gold and gray colour variants. The gray variant is similar to the aluminum body of the MacBook. It has a magnesium alloy cover and it also features a wrist rest which is covered in a velvety soft-touch to give more comfort to its users.

The Yoga 3 has a 13-inch screen which has an impressive 3200x1600 LED display. Texts and images appeared sharper on Yoga's display as compared to Apple's 1440x900 screen while Microsoft's 2160x1440 resolution display is almost at par with that of Yoga's.

The stand-out feature of the device is its hinge which allows the laptop's screen to swing more smoothly when converting to tablet mode. On the other hand, the Surface Pro 3 has a built-in kickstand that also has a hinge which allows the device to lay nearly flat while the Macbook Air is the typical laptop which has no ability to fold back.

The Yoga 3 also features a backlit keyboard with proportionately designed keys. In comparison, Macbook's keyboard provides a better typing experience while the keyboard of the Surface Pro appears to be the least comfortable to type on among the three.

Performance, Battery and Price

The Yoga 3 Pro is packed with Intel's new Core M processors which are mainly intended for super slim hybrid laptops. The downside on its processor is that the chip used on the device is not as powerful compared to Intel's Core i3, i5 and i7 processors. The MacBook and the Surface Pro 3, on the other hand, is packed with the more robust Core i5 processor giving the two faster performances versus the Yoga 3.

Yoga 3 is supposed to have a longer battery life because of the Intel M processor which promises to save more power. Lenovo claims that the device can last up to 7 hours while Apple claims a 12-hour battery life and Microsoft claims that its hybrid can only stand 5 hours on a single charge.

Both Yoga 3 and MacBook Air can be configured with 8GB of RAM and 256GB solid-state drives (SSD) and are priced at US$1,299. The Surface Pro 3 has the same processor, RAM and SSD size but its US$130 keyboard gives it a total cost of US$1428.

According to Arstechnica's insight, the Yoga 3 has a beautiful screen and a flexible design with its durable hinge. It is also very handy with its very thin and light body. However, it is also safe to note that its processor makes it slower than its predecessor and its maker is known for its finest keyboards so Lenovo must do something about it. The Yoga 3 can be recommended to consumers but not with as much guarantee as compared to the Yoga 2 Pro.